Easy Chinese

2010年4月21日星期三

Asian Cultural Festival

Wednesday, April 21, 2010, 1p.m. at Queensborough Community College in celebration of Asian-American Heritage Month.

Please enjoy the show.

2010年3月23日星期二

Year of the Tiger at Tilles Center

The Middle School and Upper School students gained a greater appreciation for the music and dance of China through this performance. An experience such as The Year of the Tiger becomes more beneficial to students when the teachers have prepared the students with background information, and also, reinforce the meaning of the music, dance, costumes, etc., following the performance. The show begins with brief introduction about Chinese New Year tradition activities and how to say Happy New Year in Chinese-新xīn 年nián 快kuài 乐lè !

The first dance is very popular dance in Chinese society - Lion Dance, the two kids play tricks on two naughty lions, what a peaceful and interesting images. The second dance is Coin Stick Dance to wish people prosperity for the New Year; dancers hit the bamboo sticks against their bodies and the ground to produce interesting rhythms as they move. The third dance is the ribbon dance about the goddess flying through the sky; the ribbons show the passing winds and maybe clouds as the goddess soars through the sky, but if the background had some Buda pictures hanging up, it would be more touching. Then followed by Xi Shuang Ban Na dance, this dance is about one Dai couple pursuit their true love in the beautiful paradise of Yun Nan Province, their clothes, music and the dance movement look like Thai People to me. The last dance is Young Ge, during the harvest time or Chinese New Year Celebration; villagers in Northeast China gather in the field and dance with fans, handkerchiefs and drums to celebrate the year-long hard work and to welcome the New Year. This is one of the most popular folk dances from the Han People and the movements are very stylized and energetic.

As for the whole running time I enjoyed watch the tutorials part very much, Nai-Ni Chen engage the audience how to do “orchid finger” and “tiger finger” and she also has the dancers demo the details about the various moves slowly such as jumping, walking, skipping, etc., of course the moves are far more complicated then they look, every time the kids say “WOW!”, they also pick some volunteers up on the stage from different schools to teach students how to do the basic moves of ribbon dance such as rainbow, waterfall, and waves. This show is not only awesome performance but also educational and entertaining. My students learn more about Chinese culture and have fun while learning it and also enrich their China experience too.

2010年3月14日星期日

Day trip to Hunan Taste Restaurant

On March 11th, we have the opportunity to reinforce the unit of study we did on “At Restaurant” by going to Hunan Taste Restaurant. Students will be able to practice their vocabulary by learning the names of the dishes and how to order them in Chinese.

Hereby is our worksheet for this trip:

2010年2月7日星期日

Chinese New Year

Far and away the most important holiday in China is Spring Festival, also known as the Chinese New Year. To the Chinese people it is as important as Christmas to people in the West. The dates for this annual celebration are determined by the lunar calendar rather than the Gregorian calendar, so the timing of the holiday varies from late January to early February.

To the ordinary Chinese, the festival actually begins on the eve of the lunar New Year's Day and ends on the fifth day of the first month of the lunar calendar. But the 15th of the first month, which normally is called the Lantern Festival, means the official end of the Spring Festival in many parts of the country.

Preparations for the New Year begin the last few days of the last moon, when houses are thoroughly cleaned, debts repaid, hair cut and new clothes purchased. Houses are festooned with paper scrolls bearing auspicious antithetical couplet and in many homes, people burn incense at home and in the temples to pay respects to ancestors and ask the gods for good health in the coming months.

"过guò 年nián ," meaning "passing the year," is the common term among the Chinese people for celebrating the Spring Festival. It actually means greeting the new year. At midnight at the turn of the old and new year, people used to let off fire-crackers which serve to drive away the evil spirits and to greet the arrival of the new year. In an instant the whole city would be engulfed in the deafening noise of the firecrackers.

On New Year's Eve, all the members of families come together to feast."水shuǐ 饺jiăo" is popular in the north, while southerners favor a sticky sweet glutinous rice pudding called "年nián 糕gāo" .

2010年2月5日星期五

Go Shopping ! 买măi 东dōng 西xī

这zhèi 个ge 多duō 少shăo 钱qián ？
这zhèi 个ge 怎zěn 麽me 卖mài ？
太tài 贵guì 了le
便pián 宜yí 点diăn

This is a realy fun activity, the Exchange Students robbed the bank, and my 7th graders become good business men.